Expansion work of Cox's Bazar airport to start this year: Minister
FE Report
Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Lt Col (retd) Faruk Khan Saturday said work on expansion and upgrading the Cox's Bazar airport to an international airport will start by the end of this year as part of initiatives to boost tourism.
"By the end of this year, we will start building an international airport at Cox's Bazar. Also we will review the charges for the private airlines operating inside the country," Faruk Khan said while addressing the opening ceremony of an international conference on tourism and hospitality.
He said the country will include a number of other countries for their nationals getting on-arrival visa. Extending this facility to other countries has been discussed with the home ministry.
The government has taken steps to establish Special Tourist Zones (STZ) at Cox's Bazar, Sundarbans and Kuakata, the minister added.
The conference titled 'International Conference on Tourism and Hospitality Sector in Bangladesh, Planning for the Future: Sustainable Developments in Tourism and Hospitality Sector' was organised by Institute of Hotel Management and Hospitality Ltd and Trinity Communications at a city hotel which was supported by Bangladesh Tourism Board, Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation (BPC) and International Labour Organization (ILO).
Tourism secretary Atharul Islam, BPC chairman Hemayet Uddin Talukder, ILO Bangladesh country director Andre Bogui and Industry Skill Council chairman AKM Bari were, among others, present on the occasion.
At present on-arrival visa facility of Bangladesh is enjoyed by 45 countries despite repeated call from the tour operators to issue on-arrival visa to all international tourists as envisaged by an official circular four years ago. Extension of the visa facility, reactivated again in August last, is ignored by relevant officials at the airport to the inconvenience of the tourists.
Mr Faruk Khan said it is important to mobilize domestic tourists which will ultimately result in an increase in international tourists.
"Our people are more interested to see other parts of the country. Once you develop the flow of internal tourists, the international tourists will automatically go up. For that we need to develop infrastructure first for smooth movement of the tourists," said the minister.
The minister emphasized on setting up of tourism training institutes in the country to generate more educated people for the sector.
"If 70 per cent of our graduates go outside the country with jobs in tourism and hospitality sector of the foreign countries, I do not mind as we are serving all over the world with honour and reputation due to our skill, hard work and performance," said Mr Khan.
The minister gave an overview of various infrastructure related works for the development of the tourism sector despite the country facing global economic depression.
He said1 tourism is not only about seeing and enjoying but it is a commercial product for which a rigorous brainstorming is needed to develop suitable products.
"We will take the sector to such a level through which we will earn foreign exchange after RMG sector. But this sector has 700 per cent value addition compared to that of the RMG sector. It is good for employment generation, education and many more," said the minister.
The purpose of the conference is to provide a unique forum for participants from academia, industry, government and other stakeholders to actively exchange views, share ideas and recommendations on tourism and hospitality sector.
Four papers were presented at the conference by Mubina Khondkar, chairperson, torusim and hospitality department of Dhaka University; Vinay Luthra, additional principal chief conservator of forests, Karnataka Forest Department; DAC Silva, director general, Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management; Francis Dilip De Silva, workplace learning and productivity advisor, TVET Reform project, ILO Dhaka and a panel discussion on HR Development/Industrial Attachment/Apprentice/Job Placement.
Expansion work of Cox's Bazar airport to start this year: Minister
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